One-Hit Video Wonders May Win Entry into YouTube Partnership Program

Google property YouTube is extending its YouTube Partnership Program to increase the likelihood ordinary users, and not just so-called "cewebrities" (online celebrities), can profit from high traffic to their videos.

Moving forward, proprietors of videos generating a plentitude of views may be offered invitations to monetize those videos in a revenue-sharing deal. Other factors include view count, compliance with YouTube’s Terms of Service and whether or not the video has gone viral.

Eligible video producers will also see an "Enable Revenue Sharing" message beside their videos, as well as elsewhere in their accounts.

To monetize them, YouTube will sell advertising against the content and pay owners through AdSense.

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Murdoch Empire to Charge for Online Content Next Year

Following the announcement of huge financial losses in its fourth quarter, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch has vowed that the company will charge for access to all news websites, including FoxNews.com, by the middle of next year.

News Corp. revenue fell 11% to $7.7 billion in the quarter ended June 30; the company’s loss was $203 million, down from a $1.1 billion net gain last year, according to the Los Angeles Times. The loss was due in part to a $452 million impairment charge for Fox Interactive Media, the unit which includes MySpace.

Cable network earnings rose 31%, with the increase driven entirely by affiliate fees; advertising for the cable nets was down 10%. The company’s television division, including Fox stations, saw profits slip from $1.12 billion to $174 million, with operating income down 66%.

Murdoch has said in the past that the era of free journalism would soon be coming to an end. “Quality journalism is not cheap,” Murdoch is quoted as saying in the Guardian. “The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites.”

Currently, the Wall Street Journal is the only News Corp. property which charges for content.Murdoch said (via MarketWatch) that, while the economic situation may have bottomed out, he sees no clear signs for a fast recovery.

Some newspaper groups and other media companies are considering charging for content, or have already done so. MediaNews Group, publisher of 54 daily newspapers including The Denver Post and the Detroit News, says it will soon be charging a fee for its newspaper content online, while The New York Times Co. chairman, Aurthur Sulzberger Jr., told shareholders in April that the company would be “exploring a new online financial strategy.”

Disney also plans to experiment with a paid subscription model online.

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Festivals benefit from slow economy

Organizers of events say crowds were good despite tough times
By JESSE DUNSMORE and LIZ SHEPARD Times Herald

August 10, 2009
If there’s one local sector that hasn’t been hurt by the slow, struggling, insert-negative-adjective-here economy, it may be festivals and fairs.

Marilyn Light, organizer of the Lexington Art Fair, said this year had the largest turnout she’s seen in her 22 years coordinating it.

"I was pleasantly surprised…It was mobbed on Saturday," she said of the Aug. 1 and 2 event.

More than 200 artists had their work on display and an estimated 10,000 people attended. This was the first year Light had to turn away artists, she said.

Light thinks the increased turnout was a reflection of the economy.

"They’re looking for something to do that doesn’t cost them any money," she said.

St. Clair Riverfest had mixed success this year, said Joe Nieporte, co-owner of Funfest Productions, which organizes the event.

"No question, we drew more people," he said. "The one thing we did notice was people were spending less money.

"The July 31 through Aug. 2 event, which capped a weekend of musical acts and other entertainment with offshore boat races, attracted about 150,000 people, or 20,000 to 30,000 more than last year, Nieporte said.

But he estimated vendors made 5-10% less money than last year. He didn’t know specific dollar amounts.

He said he wasn’t surprised by the growth or the loss in spending.

"Going into it, we kind of knew," he said. "The economy’s bad. What we do at the festival — it’s free; we don’t charge admission to attend. We feel that economy helps attendance.

"Yale Bologna Festival had a different kind of success, said director Crystal Topor -it raised $20,000 for the Yale Chamber of Commerce -a $16,000 improvement on last year’s $4,000.

She didn’t think there was an above-average attendance, though.

She thinks the lack of a carnival this year left people with more money to spend at the chamber’s food tent as well as for voting for the Bologna King and Queen and other fundraisers.

The money supports chamber events and scholarships.

"Given the economy, I wasn’t expecting to do quite as well, and also being that it was my first year (as director) -but we did considerably well," she said.

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Run for a Cause at the 2009 Blackmores Sydney Running Festival
Sydney invites visitors to participate in the 2009 Blackmores Sydney Running Festival to be held on September 20.

Sydney, Australia – The city of Sydney invites local and foreign visitors to participate in its largest running festival for the benefit of various charity organizations such as Greenpeace, the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the Breast Cancer Network Australia, to name a few. The Blackmores Sydney Running Festival will be held on 20 September 2009 starting from North Sydney to the Sydney Opera House. The festival has four kinds of events for people with different fitness levels, so everyone can participate.

For more information about this Sydney hotel and its online reservation service, visit www.sovereigninnsydney.com.

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